Godātie Eiropas Parlamenta deputāti!
Esmu pagodināts un gandarīts atgriezties Eiropas Parlamentā un redzēt daudz pazīstamu seju.
Tiem deputātiem, ar kuriem man vēl man bijis tas gods personīgi iepazīties, vēlos teikt, ka mana personīgā pieredze ir cieši saistīta ar Eiropu. Es piedzimu un uzaugu aiz Dzelzs priekškara, Padomju Savienības okupētajā Latvijā.
Man šodien nebūtu iespēja būt šeit, Eiropas Parlamentā, ja Latvija nebūtu atguvusi savu valstisko neatkarību un ja nebūtu notikusi Eiropas atkalapvienošanās, kas daudziem cilvēkiem un valstīm, tai skaitā Latvijai, atjaunoja vēsturisko taisnīgumu un radīja iespēju atgriezties Eiropas demokrātisko valstu saimē.
Šī manas valsts pieredze, kas savijas ar manu personīgo dzīvesceļu, ir manas motivācijas avots, jau vairāk kā 20 gadus darbojoties politikā. Šī pieredze ir arī manas eiropeiskās pārliecības pamatā.
Tā tas bija tad, kad gandrīz piecus gadus vadīju Latvijas Republikas valdību, kad pildīju finanšu ministra pienākumus, kad strādāju kā Latvijas Saeimas vai Eiropas Parlamenta deputāts.
Tā bija arī mana motivācija jau divus termiņus strādājot Eiropas Komisijā.
Man būtu liels gods un atbildība likt lietā savas zināšanas un ilggadējo pieredzi gan Latvijā, gan Eiropas Savienības institūcijās, lai turpinātu veidot stiprāku un vienotāku Eiropas Savienību.
Honourable Members - I will continue in English.
Today, the EU faces monumental challenges never seen before in its history. War has returned to our continent.
Russia's brutal and illegal aggression against Ukraine threatens its freedom and very existence, as well as Europe's entire security architecture. It is evidence of deeper geopolitical power shifts that are reshaping the world as we know it. These shifts pose a risk to the international rules-based order.
At the same time, we face many other challenges.
First, climate change, as we have seen most recently with the dramatic flooding in Spain.
Intensifying global competition for critical technologies is another.
In this challenging environment, the EU needs a resilient, innovative and competitive economy. This will guarantee Europe's capacity to stand by its values and freedoms, withstand future shocks and preserve a cohesive society.
Today, Europe's economy still suffers from many brakes that are holding us back.
This is why President-elect von der Leyen identified sustainable prosperity and competitiveness as priorities for the next European Commission.
This is why I am honoured to appear in front of you today as Commissioner-designate for Economy and Productivity and for Implementation and Simplification.
There are various factors to address in our work to boost Europe's competitiveness and raise productivity.
Investment, both public and private, is vital to support it. We also need to make it easier to set up and grow a business, help people to develop the right skills, and cut bureaucracy.
And we need to do it while further improving social fairness and cohesion.
The recent reports by Enrico Letta, Mario Draghi, and the Commission's Single Market and Competitiveness report cover all these elements, and more.
Today, I would like to focus on four building blocks that would shape my work as a Commissioner, if confirmed:
- greater coherence when shaping economic policies and investment,
- sound fundamentals,
- less red tape,
- a strong European voice when shaping global economic policies.
I will address each of these in turn.
First: our economic policies should become more coherent. Reforms and investments, carried out nationally as well as EU-wide, should be better aligned with our common European objectives.
Here, the European Semester will play a key role.
It will focus on promoting competitiveness, productivity, sustainability and social fairness. It will also continue to respond to country-specific challenges and situations.
This will be my approach as I work with the President to steer the European Semester in the years ahead.
The European Semester will work in tandem with the new competitiveness coordination tool, whose development will be one of my priorities. The new tool will translate EU-wide competitiveness objectives into coordinated national policies. It will allow public and private funding to be guided towards these priorities, in sync with the new European Competitiveness Fund.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility has shown us the value of blending reforms and investments - and linking them to EU funding.
On the ground, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, is bringing change that boosts our competitiveness, such as:
- cheaper and more secure energy,
- better skills for people,
- faster permitting, to name just a few.
I will continue to support Member States in carrying out their national plans by the Facility's 2026 deadline.
Beyond the RRF, our investment needs are still massive.
Private funding will have to cover the bulk of them. Public money will play an important role as well, including to ensure upward social and territorial convergence.
I will work with the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund so that they further strengthen their role in delivering EU policy objectives – particularly given the EIB's role as the EU's bank and the EIF's catalytic role for entrepreneurship, start-ups and SMEs.
It is key for the EIB to prioritise investments in sectors critical for our economic security – such as cleantech, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, advanced semiconductors – and also to review its policy to support our defence capabilities.
In addition, I expect the EIB to contribute even more to the EU's external strategic goals – for example, through additional support for Ukraine and the wider neighbourhood, and our Global Gateway strategy.
I will also work with the EIB Group to ensure it takes more risks in its operations, especially when covered by EU guarantees.
More broadly, I cannot stress enough the urgency of deepening and broadening our capital markets.
Difficulties in access to financing is one of the key issues that prevent our companies from scaling up.
The second building block is about ensuring that the EU economy has stable fundamentals.
The EU's new fiscal rules are tailored to the new challenges and realities.
They provide more flexibility for Member States to determine their fiscal trajectory.
They pay more attention to growth-enhancing reforms and investments focused on common EU priorities, social fairness, the green and digital transitions, and security – all this while ensuring fiscal sustainability.
Stable and transparent public finances reinforce market confidence and reduce borrowing costs – both public and private. They provide fiscal space for public investments and create a conducive business environment to unlock private investment.
Sound fiscal policies also protect the sustainability and adequacy of social welfare systems on which current and future generations rely.
So, my priority will be to ensure that the fiscal rules are used and enforced in a credible and even-handed way.
I am glad that for this, and of course for much more, we can rely on independent, timely and reliable European statistics produced by Eurostat.
On the third building block: today, administrative burden places a significant drag on our competitiveness.
Every hour that an entrepreneur spends filling out forms is an hour lost for developing the business, for creating growth and jobs.
Excessive red tape, whether it stems from European or national rules, has very sizeable economic and social consequences. It holds back investment, dampens productivity, and reduces Europe's ability to attract foreign investments and talent. So, it needs to change.
We need simpler rules that are easier to implement.
But I want to be very clear: simplification does not mean de-regulation.
We will not compromise our policy goals or our high social and environmental standards.
It is a complex endeavour that will require effort across the entire College, which I will coordinate, reporting directly to President von der Leyen.
Each Member of College will have responsibility for stress-testing the existing rules in his or her area of responsibility.
Here, we will follow a user-centric approach, by gathering and building on experiences from stakeholders who apply EU rules on the ground. And we will report on progress to the Parliament and the Council in annual thematic reports.
Our simplification efforts will start in the areas that Europe's people and businesses consider to be most urgent.
We will build on the priorities identified in the recent reports, like the Draghi report, dialogues and stakeholder consultations. And we obviously want to listen to the European Parliament as well.
If confirmed, I will provide an outline of this workstream in the very first months of my mandate.
Honourable Members
For EU law to achieve the intended objectives, above all it must be properly implemented.
The new Implementation Dialogues will show how best to align implementation with realities on the ground.
We also intend giving more support to Member States' administrations and companies to help them comply with rules, allowing better enforcement.
Simplification and better law-making must be a joint responsibility shared by all EU institutions.
This is why the new Commission will reach out to the European Parliament and the Council on renewing the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-making.
While the Parliament and the Council already agreed to impact-assess their significant amendments, this was never put fully into practice. We should discuss how to improve this.
The European Commission has a longstanding commitment to better regulation. I will further strengthen this by making sure that the reinforced competitiveness check and SME test are applied consistently.
Using digital technology more systemically also has great potential for reducing the administrative burden for people and companies, especially SMEs.
In fact, the Commission has already presented several proposals that would help to achieve this, such as the digital wallet and e-identity.
Just this week, the Ecofin Council agreed on updating the EU's e-VAT rules to bring them into line with the digital age.
The fourth and final building block centres around a strong euro and making sure that the EU speaks with a strong and united voice at international economic fora, such as the IMF and World Bank.
It is even more vital as we are living in a more fragmented world.
Today, the EU is a global leader – including at the G7 and G20 – in making sure that debt distress in developing countries is addressed or, for example, in reforming capital markets to support the transition to climate-neutrality.
On Ukraine specifically, the EU facilitated the recent G7 agreement to leverage the extraordinary revenues from immobilized Russian sovereign assets to provide support for Ukraine.
Also, we need to further strengthen the international role of the single currency.
I will continue to guide Member States towards joining the euro area, based on the rules in force.
I will also work closely with co-legislators towards the swift adoption of the legislative proposals on the digital euro and legal tender of cash.
Honourable Members
During the last ten years, as Vice-President and then Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, I have always worked in a spirit of collegiality and in close cooperation with the European Parliament.
If confirmed by this House, I will take real pleasure in continuing my cooperation with you.
For me, working closely with the European Parliament is a self-evident and integral part of my work.
And I come here regularly: during this mandate, I attended 60 meetings of parliamentary committees, and this is not counting plenary sessions, trilogues and other events.
I will make sure that the Parliament is regularly updated, on an equal footing with the Council, on the latest developments regarding the files under my portfolio, and that its opinions are duly taken into account. I will also fully respect the Parliament's rights and prerogatives in the legislative processes.
If you honour me with your confidence, I will be happy to continue this fruitful relationship. Thank you very much.
